One Moment
by merick
Summary: Set just after Season 4, just a little musing about 'the kiss'. A fluffy little one shot that could turn into more depending on the reception.


I just watched the Season 4 finale yesterday and was so pleased with how things went (mostly that we were not left with a gut wrenching cliffhanger) and I just wanted to explore 'the scene', you know what I mean, the kiss that Helen gives Tesla and the look in his eyes as he leaves her behind. So this is set a week or so after the event, in the reborn Sanctuary, after Will has arrived. A fun little one-shot; spoilers, maybe a few.

It was right, everything was right with the world again, her world. For just a few blissful days she had let it be about her world and nothing else. There had been months of preparation for the move, months of breaking ties and hurting her friends, Will especially, and Biggie. Henry had been in her confidence, she needed him more than she dared tell him; the others would have been too if not for the fact that one had been compromised by the Crixorum, and the other, once a protégé, now turned partner, was still a human, still ruled by the experiences that had brought him to her attention, and was too vulnerable. Did she love him? Of course she did, and for that very reason she had given Will the out he needed. The true plausible deniability, the real probability of returning to the world if her plan had not gone the way it needed to. Did it tear at her, it did, but now, now she had made her apologies, and they had been accepted, and harsh words, though not forgotten had been forgiven on so many parts. And so she stood, on the glass balcony of her study, looking out at the verdant world she had created, the sounds of the waterfall, just in her peripheral vision providing the background music for a perfect day. One from the fairy tale books she had read as a child, not yet knowing how much of the tales were true. One moment of perfect happiness was hers just then, and she finally allowed herself the time to enjoy it.

Even seeing the reflection of her study door opening in the glass did not disturb her. She turned with a smile to greet her new visitor, her oldest friend. Nikola Tesla, resplendent in his ever present black three-piece, vest done, jacket not, tie perfect, hair just a little mussed, absent only the grin that generally stretched from cheek bone to cheek bone. He had been there to pick her from the rubble, he and Henry; thanks to whose suit she had survived the blast wave. He had held her, refusing all help, not that he had needed it, spiriting her away to the safe location she and Henry had set-up in the preceding weeks. He had not been party to her plans either, because she loved him as well, and could not bear dragging him into a possible true death, or worse. He had sat beside her bed for nearly twelve hours, holding her hand, eschewing all help offered by Henry. Helen did not know what she had done to deserve such loyalty, her heart swelled with it that day and made her feel warmer than even the sun shinning down on her. Nikola had stayed until the effects of the blast dissipated, and until she felt strong enough to stand, and walk, and then to finally go, to the new place, where Declan and the guests she had moved from the Sanctuary were waiting. Tesla had accompanied them, but had kept himself isolated for many days, not that she blamed him, he had felt the same type of betrayal, though had forgiven her many times; she had heard his words, even as her scrambled mind struggled to surface from the confusion of the blast wave. But she knew there was more to his mood than just that, they had been to hell and back, and she knew more about Nikola Tesla than perhaps he even knew about himself. And just then, she thought perhaps he was ready to speak about that thing that was wearing on him. Because she knew that she finally was.

"Nikola." She called from the French doors that had led out to her vantage point. Not that she doubted he knew she was there; she simply wanted to acknowledge his presence, and demonstrate her happiness to him. She stepped back into the room.

"Helen?" His voice had the same deep musical rhythm that she had known her entire adult life. It was a constant; along with the way it pitched higher when he was excited, and even deeper when he let his Vampire aspect rule him.

"I am so glad to see you again Nikola." She was; his absence, though understood, had pained her.

"May we speak?" He asked slowly.

"Of course Nikola," she motioned to an antique settee, and watched as his eyes followed her hand, though his body did not. "Please?" She added.

His movements were stiff, not those of the energetic, purpose driven man she remembered. She sat beside him, continuing to smile softly at him, hoping he might finally relax once he said what he needed to, because it was obvious that he had rehearsed his lines over and over before coming to her. She reached for his hand, pleased that he let her have it, even though his grip was slack against hers. She held on nevertheless.

"Nikola, you are troubled." It was an observation, not a question.

"Helen," he began, at first not meeting her eyes, only looking down at his well-polished shoes. "You know how I feel."

"I do."

"But I don't know how you feel." Then he looked up at her. "Those moments, watching you, closing the door on you, not knowing."

"I am so sorry Nikola. I never wanted to harm you. You had your place; you were needed, just as I had mine. Caleb had to die. You had to live, I needed to ensure both."

"But to leave you behind? And after, after" he sighed deeply, Helen could see the practiced words on his lips, but she did not interfere. "The kiss."

"I needed you to know."

"Because you believed you were going to die?"

"Yes Nikola. I did not truly believe that I would survive. And I needed you to know, before the end, what I could never say to you before."

"And it has been many days since then, and I have been afraid to find you, and you have not come to find me Helen. Have things changed so much in a week?"

"It was a time of war Nikola, things are so much different in war."

"I know." He stood, sadly, pulling his hand away from hers and walked to the window, his shoulders slumped forward, his head hung down, and Helen had to follow him, his mood making her heart ache.

"Things are done in the heat of battle Nikola." She reached out to him again, putting a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to turn back to her.

"I know Helen."

His face was the picture of misery, which was not what she had ever intended.

"Emotions are heightened, reactions quickened, the heart races." She moved her hand to his face, caressing the angular flow of his jaw, stepping closer to him, holding his gaze, soft eyes looking straight into his soul. He reached for her hand again, this time wrapping it in his long fingers. "Just like," she stopped, to let him finish the thought she hoped they were both sharing.

"Just like love-making." He said, and then leaned in to take the kiss she offered him, twining his free hand into her raven black hair, pulling her face as close to his as was possible, grinding his lips against hers, sharing her breath even as she took his.

"I needed you to understand, not the words, but the truth Nikola, just in case. I needed to give you that." Her eyes were rimmed with glistening tears as she spoke to him; clutching the hand he had given her. "I do love you. And I am sorry it has taken me so long to tell you."

It was his choked sob that next cut through the silence as he pressed her to his chest, feeling her fluttering heartbeat, and her arms wrapping around his waist. His own eyes nearly betrayed the pain, the relief and the desire he had kept bottled up for over a century, but he hid all that in another kiss, softly bring his mouth down on hers that second time, finding her parted lips waiting for him. He tasted her so carefully, their deepened kiss pulling their bodies even closer.

Her back was to the door, so it was not she, but Tesla who saw it push open, a distracted Will wandering in, his eyes glued to a tablet he carried. He looked up, about to say her name when he saw the embrace, and paling for the briefest of moments, as Tesla met his eyes, he fell mute and backed out of the room as quietly as he had come. Nikola only kissed Helen harder.

He let his fingers reach for the hem of her blouse, seeking to caress the skin underneath it when she pulled back just slightly.

"Not here Nikola." She whispered, still clutching as his jacket, unwilling to completely let go of him, now that she had finally allowed herself the joy of his nearness.

"Where?" He breathed back, just running a fingertip along her bare waist, making her shudder.

"My bedroom." He nodded, feeling his own heart stutter in his chest.

She took his hand, and pulled him towards the side door of the study, the doorway that led to her private rooms, hearing him close it fast as he stepped across the threshold with her.

It was one moment of perfect happiness.


End file.
